Humbug
by Pixie Altaira
Summary: What makes one enjoy the Christmas Season?


Scrooge, prompt two…non drabble

Disclaimer: Not mine and no money is being made from the fiction herein.

A/N: Not beta Read

Morgan's place had lights framing every window and each and every plant in the yard was lit. It was colorful and bright. There was a wreath on his door, with huge blue ribbons.

Garcia's whole apartment building looked like a Christmas store exploded. There were elves on the roof that danced and inflatable gingerbread men that stuck out of windows. Someone streamed Christmas music out of speakers. Most the time, Hotch thought that Garcia was probably behind it all. Especially the day she dressed 'silver and gold' and he had to pull over half way through the drive to work to make her wrap the emergency quilt in the back of his car around her so the sparkle didn't blind him or any other drive when the sun hit her.

JJ and Will had an inflatable snow globe that played music and their Christmas tree was decorated and lit centered in the front window by the end of Thanksgiving Day. There were window clings on all the windows.

His own yard was filled with trees that they had strung lights on and lit candy canes that lined the walk. Jess and Jack had centered the tree in the front room and it shown through the window and the Friday after Thanksgiving, instead of going shopping with Jess and Jack, he hung icicle lights from the porch.

Rossi's house was tasteful, all white lights along the eves and windows. He had the lit spiral trees, in white. The fence and the gate were all lit, in white.

Even Alex Blake had her main window lit and stocking hung so they could be seen in the window, and she spent as much time away with her significant other as she could during the holiday season.

Reid? Nothing. No lights. No tree in front of the window. No inflatable Santas, snowmen, snow globes, or even elves. No wooden cut outs. No stockings in the window, or window decorations of any sort. There was a single candle that sat in his front window, but there was always a single candle that sat in his front window, no matter what season. It wasn't Christmassy. There was nothing.

Hotch hesitated to call him a scrooge, but waiting for him to come down on days they carpooled was gloomy…not to mention throughout December dealing Reid was inconvenient as hell. Throughout the month of December Reid carried an extra bag with him, a second satchel stuffed and bulging with heaven knew what. He left a go bag packed at the office after Morgan complained the first day of December that they couldn't pack his go bag and his satchel and that extra bag and something would have to go. The extra bag was heavy and cumbersome and always got in the way and Reid refused to give it up. Like is usual satchel, wherever he went it went too.

The bag was bad enough, but there was more. He disappeared. At least once, everywhere they went. Everywhere! You'd go to ask him something and no Reid.

About mid-December, after back to back cases from the Saturday after Thanksgiving -shorter cases, none nice and no really good endings, Hotch had had about enough. It had been two days in their current location and they couldn't find any connections that they needed and Hotch was tired and grouchy and had a huge headache and Reid was nowhere! He'd pulled Reid back to the station to put a geographical profile together and…yeah. His maps was up, pins were stuck in it but Hotch didn't know if he'd stuck to his usual codes or not, and pins were still lying on the table. His bags were sitting there; even his scarf and coat were still sitting there. No Reid!

He wasn't getting coffee; he wasn't in the men's room.

"JJ! Where's Reid?"

"He's said he had to run over to the bank at the corner." JJ answered. She was manning the fax machine in the main office where Garcia was supposed to be sending some documents through.

"I need him here!"

JJ shrugged. "He said everything he could do was done and until Rossi, Morgan and Blake got back or someone got him more info he was just sitting so he was going to run an errand. He said he'd be back in less time than it would for him to run and get a coffee."

"Well, he's not here now!" Hotch growled.

Except he was there when Hotch entered the conference room where the BAU was set up, just standing there with his head tilted looking at the map.

"Do you have to addresses for the older scenes as well?" Reid asked.

"You haven't even got the scenes they are at now up!" Hotch snapped.

"Yes I do. I have had those up for an hour, that's why I need the older scenes." Reid said.

"It's just a line of pins!"

"A straight line of pins which follows no road or alleyway. I thought maybe it had something to do with railway tracks, you know the whole 'wrong side of the tracks' idea, but there were never railroad tracks there either. We're too far north for the Mason/Dixon line. I asked for boundary info, for schools or churches or such, but no one has brought it yet."

Hotch was only half listening, he was instead looking at tags of some sort sticking half out Reid's pocket.

"Where were you?" Hotch growled.

"I went to the bank on an errand. I had already asked for any information about different types of boundaries in town and had nothing else to do so I went to do my errand."

"Without asking! For both!"

Reid turned and looked at Hotch. "So, if Rossi or Morgan has stopped and got themselves coffee on their way back here from one of the scenes are you going to yell at them? And since when did I have to ask you before asking for extra information from locals, at least this kind of information?"

"You should tell me if you have a theory!" Hotch said.

"And if I have one, I will. I am hoping the info might lead to a theory, but I won't know until then. Does everyone else need to ask now before asking questions if an idea is thought?"

Hotch growled again and slammed the door.

Reid looked at the board again, and left to ask a younger local cop the addresses for the earlier crime scenes, which Hotch recalled he had been asked to get Reid within seconds of Reid starting the map in the first place, before he'd gone off to speak with the local sheriff.

Reid pinned more locations, and then he looked around. He pulled out the tags from his pocket and picked up that damned extra bag, the heavy bulky thing. Hotch watched through the small window as Reid opened the bag and pulled out toys, a baby doll with bottle and a nice heavy metal truck. He set those above two of the tags. Above the last Reid pulled out two card games. He quickly wrapped the items up, with lengths of paper tucked in the front pocket and tape from the same local cop who'd given him the info's desk. The tags were taped on and Reid, the gifts and the tape wandered back to the local cop.

Hotch watched as Reid looked around and the ducked out the door. He walked to front window and watched his agent run the gifts to the bank at the corner. He was out within a half minute, holding the door for a young mother with several small children.

Hotch walked into the conference room. Sitting on the table were a bottle of water and a pack of travel headache medicine.

Reid was whistling a Christmas song when he walked back into the room less than two minutes later, a whole stack of papers under his arm.

"Is that the info you asked for?" Hotch asked, in a much more mild tone.

Reid smiled. "Yeah, do you have time to help me look through it?"

"Let me put your gift here to use first." Hotch said picking up the water and medicine.

Reid nodded and sat down to start looking through the papers, the slightly less lumpy satchel at his feet with his day to day satchel, the whole incident with Hotch grouching at him dismissed with the offer of the meds and water.

Hotch leaned his head against the table as he waited for the pills to kick in. Morgan, with his bright cheery lights complained just that morning about the request from Strauss to donate to the toys for tots program back at Quantico. She'd requested everyone bring one toy or book for the box, which had been sitting in the foyer of Headquarters since the first and still not been filled yet. Reid had shown up the next morning with a bag full. Rossi, and his elegant white lights, had complained about the boy scouts who'd come through selling popcorn so they could donate to the local food shelter a good deal of cash above their canned food drive, which Garcia, with all the Christmas cheer one could imagine, had complained about after she tripped over the box for canned goods donations. Reid had not only bought popcorn, but gone out during his lunch to buy canned goods to donate because he'd forgotten to bring them. He and JJ, lit trees display in the windows, had both complained about the request to bring their children to the FBI family party, which was hosting the Christmas party for those children whose parents were elsewhere, because they were already going to the office party and their team party at Rossi's. Reid called Strauss and offered to read Christmas stories at the party. And even though he hadn't heard Blake complain; she hadn't actually done any of the requests either.

"You all right, sir?" Reid asked.

"I'm much better now. Hand me some of those papers."

"We're looking for a straight boundary line that runs east west between High Street and Overdale street." Spencer said. "It isn't the current elementary school or middle school boundaries."

"High school?" Hotch asked.

"I haven't found the papers with the high school boundaries yet."

"I shouldn't have snapped earlier." Hotch said.

Spencer shrugged. "I know you didn't mean it and it must be hard when we are still here and haven't even any idea where to look yet. It's a hard time of year to be away from home. Want me to call Jack this evening too, and let him know how much you are missing him? Maybe an extra person telling him how much you miss him and love him will help him see it even more."

Hotch sighed. "If you'd like to. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you, too."

Spencer beamed and just started reading again.

Scrooge, indeed.


End file.
